


The Beast

by Capucine



Category: Beowulf (Poem), Beowulf - All Media Types
Genre: Alternate Character Interpretation, Backstory, F/M, Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-05-05
Updated: 2014-05-05
Packaged: 2018-01-22 00:50:38
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Rape/Non-Con
Chapters: 1
Words: 405
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1569890
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Capucine/pseuds/Capucine
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Modthryth's great cruelty had to come from somewhere. Mentions/allusions to rape.</p>
            </blockquote>





	The Beast

She pulls her legs up to her chest, watching as the man undoes his belt. It's all she can do to stay still, pray it won't hurt, but it does. It hurts like someone's digging a dagger straight into her. She weeps, as he pulls himself off of her; he doesn't even consider what he's done, only saying to never tell anyone.

And she won't; her own brother would be killed if they knew.

But she still hates herself for not screaming. She thinks, if she did it over again, she would make sure she had a dagger. She would whisper to him the evil of his intentions, and threaten his manhood.

She can't change the past, and her nights are long and tormented. She dreams, over and over, that he will come back, even as he avoids her eye in public. He never comes back; but his memory stays with her. She feels his meaty hands, and his soiling touch; her body aches to tell the priest of the great sin, but she dares not.

Long, sleepless nights become haggard days, and soon she sees every eye turned towards her. She sees the men stare at her small chest, the way their eyes linger on her svelte frame. She wishes she could do something about it.

When her brother dies in battle, and her father passes on, she becomes the Great Queen. 

That is when the bloodbath starts. Finally, she can protect herself. Every man learns not to turn his eye towards her, lest he be tortured and killed.

She can't stand their eyes on her. She feels like they know, like they want to remove the dress from her body and know her as her brother did. She clenches her teeth against the screams, and knows it is the only way to stay safe.

The men plot among themselves, she knows.

And she's fully prepared to fight against them, to defy their plans, but then they reveal them: Marriage.

And she would buck their power, and struggle against it, but then she meets him.

Offa has the softest blue eyes she has ever seen. When he meets her eyes, she doesn't feel naked. He gently looks at her, like she is a delicate flower rather than some hunk of meat to be torn into.

"Greetings, Queen Modthryth," he says, "I am your betrothed."

And that's when she knows it will be all right.

**Author's Note:**

> I just felt like doing this after rereading Beowulf for my college course. It doesn't exactly match up with the text, but it was fun to write.


End file.
